Chapter 93: A misunderstanding
*Ding!
[Phase Drift has been activated. Randomly teleporting you to 500 meters away.]
The world blinked. His body flickered like a shadow in candlelight and vanished into thin air, leaving the room empty and pristine.
A moment later, outside the private residence, Nebula finally pulled the door open. Zhi Yan stepped in immediately, her sharp gaze sweeping the room as her heels clicked lightly against the floor.
Her eyes immediately found Li Liu seated on the couch, tablet in hand, the display mirrored onto the large television across the wall. A glowing map of the Yanhuo Range flickered in the dim light, lines and red marks still fresh from Li Liu’s notes.
Zhi Yan’s brows lifted slightly. She pointed at the screen.
"What’s this?"
Li Liu’s heart skipped a beat, but she forced her face into a calm smile.
"Nothing serious," she said, keeping her voice even. "Just looking over the region where Lin Fang will soon go for the trials. I was marking some of the danger zones."
"Oh?" Zhi Yan tilted her head, but didn’t press further. Instead, she began to walk slowly across the living room, her tone casual, almost playful. "Hmm... I came here a few times but never observed too carefully. Now that I observed it, I can see why you want to take a break here. The air is surprisingly super fresh here; the air purifiers must be quite sophisticated. The temperature is also quite optimal, neither cold nor warm...
Li Liu followed her with her eyes, the grip on her stylus tightening. Her chest felt tighter with every step Zhi Yan took.
Then Zhi Yan’s gaze shifted toward the closed bedroom door. Her footsteps angled naturally toward it.
"Yan Yan—" Li Liu called out, her voice sharper than she intended.
Zhi Yan turned her head slightly, her expression unreadable.
"That’s Lin Fang’s private bedroom," Li Liu said quickly. "It’s inappropriate to go inside without his permission."
Zhi Yan gave a soft shrug, one hand already on the doorknob. "Inappropriate? It’s not like he actually lives here full-time, does he? What’s there to be so tense about?"
Click.
The door opened smoothly. Li Liu shut her eyes for a brief second, praying Lin Fang’s plan was flawless.
There was silence. Then Zhi Yan’s calm voice floated back. "Looks good."
Li Liu blinked, her eyes snapping open. Zhi Yan stood in the doorway, arms loosely crossed, surveying the room with the detached air of someone judging a model home. No hint of suspicion in her tone, no sign of the storm Li Liu had feared.
Li Liu’s shoulders slumped in silent relief.
Zhi Yan turned back to her, blinking in surprise, "What happened? You look like you were about to faint."
Li Liu awkwardly smiled. "Nothing. I guess I was feeling under the weather."
However, her heart raced as she stood frozen in the living room, glancing once more at the empty hallway. "Where did he even go...?" she wondered, before forcing herself to sit still and act natural in front of Zhi Yan.
Meanwhile, far from the store...
Steam rolled lazily through a tiled bathroom, the hiss of hot water filling the air. A slim and naked figure stood beneath the shower, humming softly, completely unaware of the intruder who had just materialized against the far wall.
Lin Fang blinked once. His eyes widened as they fell on her body. "Oh crap."
The woman turned her head at the faint distortion in the air before her gaze fell directly on him.
Her scream tore through the bathroom. "Aaah! Help! Someone broke in—!"
Before her voice could carry any further, Lin Fang panicked. He darted forward, fear spiking in his chest. His arm wrapped around her waist, another hand quickly covering her mouth. Water splashed across his clothes, plastering his shirt to his skin.
The woman’s body stiffened in pure terror, her eyes wide with dread. She struggled, certain she was either about to be violated or killed. Tears pricked at her eyes as muffled sounds escaped from behind Lin Fang’s palm.
"Wait... wait! I’m sorry!" Lin Fang whispered urgently, his own heart hammering. "I don’t mean any harm, I swear. I was just... trying out my teleportation skill. I—I landed here by accident."
He could feel her trembling under his grip, every muscle coiled in panic. He took a breath, forcing his voice to calm. "Listen, I’m letting go. I’ll leave right away. Just... please don’t scream."
Her wide, terrified eyes locked on his. After a tense moment, she gave a quick, desperate nod.
Lin Fang slowly loosened his hold, raising his hands to show he meant no threat. The woman immediately wrapped her arms over her chest, pressing her back against the shower wall, still dripping wet, still staring at him like a cornered animal.
Just as Lin Fang took a careful step back and stepped out of the shower, the blonde’s scream ripped the air like a knife. "Help... Mark!!!"
Down in the living room, a deep voice cut off mid-sentence. The buffed dark-skinned man — who’d been talking business with the mayor — lurched up and barreled into the bedroom like a bull. He saw Lin Fang there, dripping, hair plastered to his forehead, one hand still awkwardly raised. Rage folded his face in half.
"You motherf**ker! How dare you?!" he bellowed, stepping forward with fists clenched.
Lin Fang’s mouth opened and closed three times. "I—this—no, it’s a misunderstanding. I teleported here by accident. I wasn’t—" His words came out thin and useless.
From behind the shower curtain, the blonde peeled the towel tighter around herself, eyes blazing with fury. She pointed a finger at Lin Fang like a judge. "Honey, this bastard intruded on the bathroom while I was showering. Kill him."
The man’s jaw twitched. "You bas*ard..." He lunged without any hesitation.
With mana enveloping the man’s arm, his fist tore through the air, grazing past Lin Fang’s cheek with the sound of a whip crack. Lin Fang had already slipped to the side in reflex, evading the punch.
"This is a misunderstanding," Lin Fang repeated calmly. He ducked low, letting another punch whoosh past his ear, then straightened with a frown.
The other party’s aura flared, his body thrumming with mana as killing intent leaked out of him.
Lin Fang’s pupils narrowed at that. "Killing intent?"
Even with the man using reinforcement, the difference was obvious. The gap was far too wide. Each time the man lunged, Lin Fang slid away like water slipping through fingers efficiently.
But deep inside, he wasn’t relaxed. He knew Xuan Hei’s combat merge wasn’t permanent. Three minutes was all he had. After that, he might not be as overpowered as he was unless he uses his monsters. The thought pressed at him with every second that passed, and he was looking for just a moment to knock him out and escape, seeing that it was difficult to convince them that he was innocent.
The girl clutched her towel from the bathroom door, her eyes wide with both fear and malice as she spectated the battle. "Kill him!" she shouted again, her voice sharp and shrill, feeding more fuel to the enraged man.
Lin Fang’s expression darkened as he dodged another crushing blow, his hand brushing against the man’s wrist mid-swing. The contact made the man stagger, shocked by the ease with which Lin Fang shifted his balance aside.
"I don’t want to hurt you," Lin Fang said, his voice low, steady. But his eyes sharpened. Three minutes left. No, two and a half. "But you left with no choice."
For the first time since he entered the room, he grew serious.
Lin Fang moved before the man even registered it—one instant he was facing him, the next he was behind, locking his neck with an iron grip. His other arm twisted across the man’s torso, dragging his center of gravity off balance.
With a sharp pull, the bulky man crashed down onto the floor, the impact rattling the tiles.
With a thought in his mind, one of the twin daggers of Xuanwu flashed into existence before Lin Fang pressed it lightly to the man’s throat.
The man froze, his chest heaving, eyes wide. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple. The blonde woman’s eyes also widened at the sudden shift of the battle. One moment, her fiancé was all in offensive mode and just one move from this stranger, and he was defeated?